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The current R service is the successor to the original Route 2 of the Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation. When 2 service began on January 15, 1916, it ran between Chambers Street on the BMT Nassau Street Line and 86th Street on the BMT Fourth Avenue Line, using the Manhattan Bridge to cross the East River, and running via Fourth Avenue local. Service on the BMT Broadway Line, which at the time was only between Whitehall Street–South Ferry and Times Square–42nd Street, began exactly two years later on January 15, 1918. On July 10, 1919, service was extended to 57th Street–Seventh Avenue with the opening of that station.[4] The Montague Street Tunnel and the 60th Street Tunnel both opened on August 1, 1920, and at that time, the 2 service was rerouted from the Manhattan Bridge to the Montague Tunnel, running local from Queensboro Plaza to 86th Street. The Bay Ridge–95th Street station opened on October 31, 1925, and became the service's new southern terminus. During this time, rush-hour specials to Chambers Street were sporadically added and removed, eventually becoming an addition to the line.[5] At one time, including during 1931, additional midday service operated local between 57th Street and Whitehall Street–South Ferry. The 2 also used the Nassau Street Loop during rush hours, entering Manhattan via the Manhattan Bridge or Montague Street Tunnel and leaving via the other.

On October 17, 1949, the platform edges on the BMT Astoria Line had been shaved back to accommodate the larger BMT trains, and the BMT's Astoria Shuttle was replaced with service from the 2 Fourth Avenue Line operating from Astoria–Ditmars Boulevard in Astoria, Queens to Bay Ridge–95th Street in Brooklyn at all times. On June 29, 1950, special rush hour trains began running between Bay Ridge–95th Street and Chambers Street via the south side of the Manhattan Bridge and/or the Montague Street Tunnel. The special rush hour trains were discontinued two years later.[5]

In the winter of 1960–1961, letter designations started to appear on the route with the introduction of the R27s, which featured it on roll signs. The route was labeled the RR "Fourth Avenue Local via Tunnel". This was in accordance with the Independent Subway System's lettering system, which gave double letters to local trains and single letters to express trains. On January 1, 1961, the RR's northern terminus was relocated to its current location at Forest Hills–71st Avenue, via the BMT 60th Street Tunnel Connection, also known as the "11th Street Cut", and the IND Queens Boulevard Line. Night and weekend RR trains still terminated at 57th Street in Manhattan. PM rush hour Fourth Avenue–Nassau trains went back to the routing that was used prior to 1959, in which trains ran from Broad Street to 95th Street via the Manhattan Bridge, and the Fourth Avenue express tracks.[6][7]

1967-1976 EE bullet

On November 27, 1967, the day after the Chrystie Street Connection opened, the RR was moved back to Astoria–Ditmars Boulevard on the BMT Astoria Line. Replacing it on the Queens Boulevard Line was the new EE service, running weekdays only between Forest Hills–71st Avenue and Whitehall Street (with additional trains terminating at Canal Street). The Nassau Street specials were through-routed from Bay Ridge–95th Street to 168th Street in Jamaica as RJ, along the route used today by the J and Z services. Under the first color scheme, RR was colored green and RJ was red. In the original Chrystie Street routing plans, the TA planned to totally eliminate the RR service, and maintain the RJ route as the main Bay Ridge to Jamaica line.[7]

The RJ designation was only used from November 1967 until July 1, 1968, when it was cut back to Chambers Street and renamed as additional RR rush-hour peak-direction service. Because track connections between the Nassau Street Loop and the south tracks of the Manhattan Bridge were severed as part of the construction of the Chrystie Street Connection, these trains could not run in a loop anymore.[6] On August 30, 1976, the EE was discontinued, with the N being extended to Forest Hills on weekdays to replace it.[8] In 1979, the MTA released a revised coloring scheme; RR service was assigned the color yellow (because it used the BMT Broadway Line). Although BMT Nassau Street Line services were colored brown, the rush hour RR service that used the Nassau Street Line was colored yellow, using a diamond bullet.[9][3] The RR service via Nassau Street was referred to as the "Chambers Street Special".[10][11]

This brochure was published in 1985 to explain the relabeling of double-letter subway services, including the RR's change to the R.

On May 6, 1985, the MTA eliminated double letters for local service; the RR became the R. R service on the Broadway Line continued to use a yellow bullet, while the special Chambers Street-Bay Ridge rush-hour service was now signed with a brown diamond with a white R inside, matching the J and M services using the BMT Nassau Street Line.[12]

1979-1985 RR bullet.

On May 24, 1987, the northern terminus of the N and R were swapped. The swap placed the R along the IND Queens Boulevard Line to Forest Hills–71st Avenue once again, with the N replacing it in Astoria.[13] The change was made to give the R direct access to the Jamaica Yard (where the train is now assigned to this day),[13][14] and previously, R trains had to run light to/from the Coney Island Yard. Starting on April 28, 1986, R service on the Nassau Street Line was extended to Metropolitan Avenue for layups and put-ins from Fresh Pond Yard. After the N/R swap, the Nassau R used East New York Yard equipment. This rush hour service was discontinued on November 20, 1987.[15]

1979-1985 RR Nassau bullet.

1985-1987 R Nassau bullet.

When the IND Archer Avenue Line opened on December 11, 1988, E service was rerouted along to Jamaica Center–Parsons/Archer, and the R was extended to replace the E to Jamaica–179th Street.[16][17] The extension to Jamaica was short-lived, and the R was cut back to 71st–Continental Avenue outside of rush hours on September 30, 1990,[18] and then was further truncated to 71st–Continental Avenue at all times on October 25, 1992. In its place, the F ran local between 71st Avenue and 179th Street at all times, which eliminated express service along Hillside Avenue.[15][19]

On September 30, 1990, late-night R service became a shuttle between 36th Street/Fourth Avenue and Bay Ridge–95th Street in Brooklyn.[18] In October 2000, northbound late-night trains began skipping 53rd Street and 45th Street to speed up the relay process.[15]

On September 11, 2001, after the attack on the World Trade Center, the BMT Broadway Line was damaged, and the R service was cut back to run only south of Court Street. On September 17, R service was completely suspended, being replaced with J service in Brooklyn and Q service in Manhattan and Queens.[20] All three trains returned to normal service by October 28.[21][22]

On September 8, 2002, Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue was closed for reconstruction. As a result, late night R service was extended to Pacific Street, running express between that station and 36th Street/Fourth Avenue.[23] Service was cut back to 36th Street/Fourth Avenue when the north side of the Manhattan Bridge reopened on February 22, 2004.[15][24]

After Hurricane Sandy flooded the subway system, the Montague Street Tunnel was completely flooded. When service was restored, the R train was split into two sections (between Forest Hills and 34th Street–Herald Square and between Jay Street–MetroTech and Bay Ridge–95th Street). On December 4, the Queens–Manhattan section was extended to Whitehall Street–South Ferry. On December 21, full service was restored between Manhattan and Brooklyn after the Montague Street Tubes were drained.[25][26][27]

However, from August 2, 2013, to fall 2014, the tunnel closed again so that extra repairs could be completed, bringing back similar storm changes to the R train. On weekdays, the divided R ran in two sections: one section between Forest Hills and Whitehall Street–South Ferry, and the other between Court Street-Borough Hall and Bay Ridge–95th Street. On weekends, the R train ran its full route via the Manhattan Bridge, skipping all stations between Canal Street and DeKalb Avenue.[28][29][30] The weekday service between Forest Hills and Whitehall Street essentially recreated the former EE route from 1967 to 1976. Originally slated to open by October 2014, the tunnel re-opened a few weeks early, on September 15, 2014, and $58 million under budget.[31][32][33][34]

On June 16, 2016, it was announced that late-night R service would be extended north to Whitehall Street in order to provide a one-seat ride into Manhattan. This eliminated the need for northbound trains to skip 45th Street and 53rd Street as R trains no longer needed to reverse on the express tracks at 36th Street/Fourth Avenue.[35] The change took place on November 5, 2016.[36][37][38][39] During evenings, many R trains originating from Forest Hills-71st Avenue used to short-turn at Whitehall Street, resulting in long headways along the R in Brooklyn. As part of the changes, these short-turns were replaced by full-length trips to 95th Street.[40]

In November 2017, following the completion of the Second Avenue Subway, one northbound R trip was diverted to serve the line in order to increase service during the morning rush hour.[41][42]